All-Purpose, Never-Ending Soccer Thread

Exactly. And don't forget people, this is coming out from the same ignorant dumbass who said "I don't even know what a terrorist is"

 

you have to love the early stages of Euro 2008 qualifying. In the 57th minute, Germany 7, Dan or San Marino 0.

 

Final 13-0. Most lopsided game in Euro qualifying history.
Podolski 4, Schweinsteiger 2, Klose 2, Ballack, Hitzlsperger 2, Friedrich, Schneider

 

Yeah , between that and Scotland and England both thumping smal nations, something needs to be done. They got rid of the San Marino Grand Prix. Now how about the whole country?

Or better still, as hypothesized by former Liverpool defender and analyst Alan Hansen, make the smaller countries go through qualification before they get to the big boys.

 

Surely you don't believe Materazzi is finally telling the truth do you?

BTW, Euro qualifer: France 3, Italy 1.

 

It should be pointed out that one of the reasons Scotland did not make the World Cup was the Faroe Islands. I don't care about Alan Hansen's take on this because he is wrong.

You cannot presume one team to be the best simply on historic standing. At what point does a team cease being a "soccer power" and become another team that gets run over?

All the nations go into the pool. Those that survive move on. It is the way it should work. The size or history of a country shouldn't matter.

 

And I'll hate the Faroe-ers ... Faroe-tions? ... Faroe-ites? ... for knocking the Tartan Army out of the WC for several years. At least until I've got another nation to blame for Scotland not making the next WC.

 

Northern Ireland 3, Spain 2

Just downloaded highlights of this and it's simply wonderful. Healy pulls off first NI hat trick since George Best.

 

I would actually expect Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to be in the lower group. Say take the teams that are in the top 20 in the shiny new revamped Fifa rankings and move them on.

Everyone else has to get through an initial qualifying stage, especially for the Euros which in comparison to the WC is far less important. Players playing up to 70 games a year does nothing for the quality of play and increases the chance of injury.

 

Great move all around.

Citeh doesn't have a left-sided mid (Samaras is a forward, Sinclair is injured) and SitDMB gets a change of scenery. If Psycho Stu can't get Beasley motivated again, no one can.

 

It came up in Marca, the rabidly pro-Real newspaper in Madrid, so it had some validity.

If memory serves, though, the article also mentioned something about making further inroads into the "American market." Probably better for Gooch to stay in Liege, though we'll see how their new manager changes things.

 

Pre-qualifying is just more knee-jerk reaction, disguising another attempt to keep the rich in power and the poor disadvantaged.

Are nations like San Marino, Andorra, etc. losing with regularity? Sure. You'll notice not all of their scores are 13-0, though. Not to mention playing the big-name countries helps line the national federation's coffers, which keeps young players playing and improves facilities.

And for every San Marino, Andorra or Gibraltar, there's a Faroe Islands or Kazakhstan that can get results against higher-caliber opposition.

Let the smaller nations play. If the big boys are so damned superior, then pushing aside such inferior opposition should be no great task.